Food Logistics Service
Food logistics is the physical flow of food from the place of supply to the location of receiving. Since food transportation has multiple components such as fluid, carrier, flow direction, flow rate, and process, its safety cannot be ignored. Today we will talk about food logistics service.
There is serious waste in the food delivery process, and logistics accounts for a large proportion of food costs. Unprofessional logistics personnel have insufficient knowledge of food logistics theory research and supply chain management, which is the main reason for the high retail prices of some foods.
Neptune Global Logistics introduces advanced logistics supply chain management ideas, organically integrates the upper and lower sources of the production chain, and uses its advanced system to improve the competitiveness of food companies.
The professional operators of Neptune Logistics will solve the problems of food diversification and speed, food safety control, and food scale efficiency that are closely related to food logistics.
If you need food logistics, Neptune global logistics provides fast and reliable services to help you deliver the cargoes to the place where you need them on time. Feel free to enquiry here.
Features of food logistics
To ensure the nutritional content and food safety of food, food logistics requires a high degree of cleanliness and hygiene, and at the same time has high requirements for logistics equipment and staff.
Since food has a specific shelf life and shelf life, food logistics has strict standards for product delivery time, that is, lead time.
Transport Methods
There are four shipping methods of logistics transportation in the fresh food industry, road transportation, railway transportation, sea freight, and air freight.
Food companies provides consumers with fresh food products from various places through these four logistics transportation methods. These four logistics transportation methods also have their characteristics. When choosing a logistics transportation method, it is necessary to combine the features of the fresh food product itself and the company's cost to make the most suitable choice.
Road transport
Road transportation is one of the most commonly used transportation methods in the fresh food industry. Road transportation also has certain shortcomings, such as safe transport and timeliness. But it also has many advantages.
1. Integrated all-around service: Road transportation can realize a "door-to-door" one-stop service, can reach the destination quickly and in time, can save many intermediate links, save costs, and reduce the cost of fresh food during transportation. This method of transport can not only improve efficiency but also ensure the safety of goods.
2. Broader network coverage: Compared with railway transportation and air transportation, highway network coverage is wide, which provides large quantifiable conditions for "door-to-door" services, and can also transmit information on time.
3. Strong maneuverability: road transportation is highly controllable, less affected by uncontrollable weather factors, and strong maneuverability.
4. Low price: The price of road transportation is much lower than that of air transportation, and the investment is relatively small, the return is fast, and the technical threshold is relatively low, which is conducive to cost-saving.
Rail transport
Railway transportation mainly uses trains as the main means of transportation. Fresh food is transported by railway transportation. The biggest problem with railway transportation is its poor mobility.
The advantage of railway transportation is that it has a relatively strong accuracy and continuity, and it can hardly be affected by climatic factors.
The speed of railway transportation is relatively fast, the transportation volume is comparatively large, and a lot of fresh food can be transported at one time.
The cost of railway transportation is low, transport is safe and reliable, and the risk is small.
Sea Freight
Sea freight is mainly in the form of transporting fresh goods through waterways with ships as vehicles. Its biggest shortcoming is that the sea transportation speed is relatively slow, and the timeliness of fresh food is relatively short, so the transportation risk is relatively high.
Air Freight
The disadvantage of air transportation is that the transportation volume is small and the transportation cost is high, so it is generally suitable for short shelf life or frozen food. The main advantages of air transportation are as follows:
1. The speed of air transportation is fast.
2. The safety of air transportation is high, which can ensure the safety of fresh goods.
3. The procedures for air transportation are relatively simple.
Transport requirements
Regardless of the transportation method used, to ensure food safety, there must be detailed requirements for transportation methods, transportation processes, records, and training.
Special vehicles should be used to food logistics and have defensive and dust-proof facilities.
According to the relevant requirements of food safety, the means of transportation shall be equipped with corresponding refrigeration and freezing facilities or protective facilities to prevent mechanical damage, etc., and maintain the regular operation.
Means of transportation and containers, tools, and equipment for loading and unloading food should be kept clean and regularly disinfected.
Food vehicles must not transport toxic and hazardous substances to prevent food contamination.
When different foods are transported by the same means of transportation, separate packaging, separation or separation should be done to prevent cross-contamination.
According to the type of food, characteristics, transportation season, transportation distance, and product storage conditions, select the transportation temperature, humidity, gas, anti-corrosion conditions, transportation packaging, etc. to choose the appropriate transportation instrument.
For food with special requirements for temperature and humidity, it should be confirmed that the transportation meets the corresponding food safety requirements. For example, the performance of refrigerated trucks and insulated trucks should meet the requirements of QC/T 449, and insulated containers should meet the requirements of GB/T 7392. Railway refrigerated trucks Should comply with the provisions of GB/T 5600, add an electronic temperature tracker to transport vehicles, etc.
Agricultural products are the principal sales objects of food logistics. Due to the characteristics of the products themselves, they are prone to damage and corrosion and cause more serious losses.
Therefore, to ensure the smooth completion of agricultural product logistics and the realization of the value of geoponic products, it is necessary to continuously improve the infrastructure construction of logistics links such as processing, transportation, and allocation, and increase the investment and application of new technologies and technologies. In the long run, the demand and development space of the agricultural cold chain logistics market is gigantic.
The first thing to pay attention to during food logistics is safety, food safety, personnel safety, and vehicle safety. The role of food safety technology in food safety culture As the building blocks of all other programs, this concept must run through the entire food supply chain from farmers to consumers.
Transport process
Pay attention to handling during transportation to avoid mechanical damage to the food.
Food should meet special requirements such as temperature required to ensure food safety during transportation.
When loading and unloading products, the methods and tools for loading and unloading shall be used following the characteristics of the product. For example, the loading and unloading time of refrigerated and frozen food should be strictly controlled, and the temperature of the food during loading and unloading should not exceed 3°C.
Bulk food should be transported after sealing and packaging food containers or packaging materials that comply with relevant national laws, regulations, and standards to prevent contamination during transportation.
Neptune Global Logistics transportation guarantee for food logistics
Professional transportation personnel will record the monitoring of the food transportation process and improve the outbound record information including product name, quantity, batch number, production date, delivery location, and contact information.
Choice of Carrier
Choosing the right carrier often has the effect of getting twice the result with half the effort. In addition to the relevant requirements of the previous part, the following aspects need to be paid attention to:
According to the actual needs of the company, choose different carriers, such as professional logistics providers and car-free carriers. We should note that car-free carriers sign transportation contracts with the shipper as the carrier and assume the responsibilities and obligations as the carrier, A road cargo operator who entrusts the actual carrier to complete the transportation task.
It is necessary to check the carrier’s business license and filing status, and save relevant information;
Investigate the carrier’s transportation facilities and equipment, personnel qualifications, quality assurance capabilities, safe transportation capabilities, risk control capabilities, etc., and file reports for future reference;
After passing the assessment, sign an entrusted transportation agreement, which should include: the standard operating procedures for transportation established by the carrier, temperature requirements, temperature control, and real-time monitoring requirements during transportation, requirements for transit time, and quality during transportation Safety responsibility, etc.
Management of the Carrier
The qualified storage and transportation party may start to entrust the storage and transportation of the products. At this time, certain activities need to be carried out to better manage the carrier:
Each batch of goods must be kept on the logistics list;
Appropriate on-site inspections are conducted according to the actual situation, focusing mainly on whether the transportation means meet the requirements of the product, whether the warehouse entry and exit records and the temperature and humidity records are complete.
Appropriate performance appraisal. Examine and compare the existing storage and transportation parties that have been supplied. For example, the delivery date, product integrity, degree of cooperation, and the number of complaints are assessed.